Moyes must build from the back to have West Ham success

West Ham were the latest victims of title contenders Man City on Sunday, with the Hammers unlucky not to get a draw before a late David Silva strike gave City all of the points at the London Stadium.

The Hammers have not had a nice time of things lately, losing four of their last five games and sitting second bottom in the Premier League table. New Hammers boss David Moyes has managed just a single point from his first five games in charge, and should he fail to halt the slide could become a member of a very exclusive club of managers to be relegated from the Premier League two seasons in a row. Has that ever even happened before?

A huge part of West Ham’s issue has been their defence. That is certainly not the only problem of course, but they have the leakiest defence in the entire Premier League at 32 goals from their first 15 games – an average of 2.13 goals per game. If you’d like to find the odds of West Ham ending the season as a relegated side, or if you’d like some matched betting advice on that scenario, then there are far worse things to have a flutter on quite frankly.

Now, it seems silly to ring any alarm bells after their latest defeat – Man City are one of the finest teams in the land and earned their 13th consecutive win. It seems doubly silly to use this game to ring the sirens considering West Ham actually took the lead and went in to half time in a winning position. They were desperately unlucky not to get a point from this one as it turns out, with Silva’s winning goal coming with just a few short minutes remaining.

However, Moyes has always struggled to replicate the solidarity and success rate he crafted during his 11 year reign at Everton. Spells at Manchester United, Real Sociedad and Sunderland have since proven underwhelming, despite his win percentage at United being better than when he was at Goodison Park. That downward spiral continued right up until he suffered the first Premier League relegation of his career last year with the Black Cats. He will need to sort out his team’s defence if he is to avoid another league drop.

Indeed, despite it being so early in Moyes’ reign the alarm bells as far as West Ham in general will have begun ringing during their 4-0 loss at the home of his old club Everton. That result came at a time when Everton were crying out for a performance that didn’t seem to be coming amid their own relegation fears. New manager Sam Allardyce has since lifted them to 10th, but that result seemed to give them the confidence to achieve that feat – and it came at West Ham’s expense.

Such a big club, with such wonderful supporters and occupying such an amazing stadium, really should be vying much nearer the top of the league. OK, they aren’t likely to be in the top six anytime soon the way things are going but at least competing for a European place should be a minimum ambition. Instead, the Hammers faithful are desperate for manager Moyes to try and stop his side leaking so many goals. Everton’s biggest problem this season has been their lack of an out and out goalscorer – but that issue seemed none existent when coming up against West Ham’s defence. Moyes needs to work some magic – and work it quickly if the club are going to give their fans even a taste of a successful season.